Anyone who’s even remotely interested in shopping for a home loan has probably paid attention to all those commercials on TV touting the ease of using any of a variety of Internet services to compare mortgage offers from the comfort of your home. You may even have tried a couple of them yourself. But Gregg Van Steenkist, a Loan Officer with Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation, says Kennewick , Washington residents need to watch out when trying to use the Internet to do the heavy lifting for them.

“Sometimes, these Internet services might work fairly well for certain people.” “But the one-size-fits-all approach they offer is going to leave a lot of people with loans that aren’t the best for them, or even worse, they may be shut out of the process altogether.”

Gregg Van Steenkist says the problem with these services is that they never really get to know anything about your financial situation other than your credit history and income level. “So basically what winds up happening is that you’re reduced to a number to them. And if they don’t like whatever that number is, you’re out of luck.”

Here are three things you should watch out for when shopping for home-finance products on the Internet – things most online mortgage sites hope you ignore:

*Do they take the time to find out about your unique situation, or are you just a cyber-borrower in their eyes? Most of these sites simply don’t have the manpower to individually work with every borrower. So a lot of times you wind up with a bad loan simply because there was no one to check if they could have gotten you a better deal.

*What do they offer people in special financial circumstances – such as the self-employed or people with damaged credit? Most of these sites don’t even want to work with you unless you meet their stringent criteria.

*Do they provide advice to help when choosing between loan products? Most sites simply gather offers, throw them in your lap, and pressure you to choose between them. Unless you’re a pretty experienced mortgage pro, deciding on the best offer can be difficult, if not impossible.

So, what’s the solution? Use the Internet to educate yourself and then work with a real human being. You may not have thought about “old-fashioned” methods of finding the best deal, such as working with a mortgage broker. “But for anyone who values a real person sitting down with you and working through the process, there’s no better option,” says Van Steenkist.

Kennewick, Washington - based mortgage expert Gregg Van Steenkist specializes in providing information to Washington residents that allows them to make informed decisions about their mortgage financing options and learn the insider secrets that can save them thousands of dollars over the life of their loan.